


Hack127.0.0.1

by SketchbookThingz



Category: DedSec - Fandom, Watch Dogs (Video Games), Watch Dogs 2 - Fandom, Watch_dogs_2
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, eventual Wrench x Reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 18:54:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8765023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SketchbookThingz/pseuds/SketchbookThingz
Summary: You and your best friend were inseparable as children, and as you grew up you became something more. But one day in high school, something happens that forces you on the run and to be separated. You try your best to find them again, only to be left in the dark more than once. Years go by and to survive you learn skills that make you a dangerous person, and you take pride in it. Named a mercenary for hire you travel looking for your friend, when Dedsec finds you first a mutual agreement is made. You help them with their problems and they’ll help you find who you need to find. Finally a real lead lands you back home in the Bay Area, and when you thought your search was over, your lead turns into a dead end. Back at square one, Sitara and her gang promise to help you find out why your lead turned dead, if you help them by sticking around.





	1. INTRO

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like this story.  
> This first chapter is just a quick little intro, but more to come

“So. This is goodbye then?” James asked you as you picked up the last of your things from the work station. 

“Yeah.” You shoved more of your things into your backpack. Readying to leave the Seattle base of Dedsec for the last time.

“So, if I didn’t give you the information in this envelope you would stay?” 

Slumping your arms, a sigh escaped you. You had made the mistake of sleeping with James, on more than one occasion. Knowing that it was a bad idea, that it shouldn’t have happened but he was nice, and sometimes you got lonely. “James,” you said softly as if scolding a child. 

“I know,” he said quickly cutting you off. “You go where you need to. But can’t blame me for trying. You really helped save us in a time where we needed you the most.” 

Nodding you smiled as you reached out for the envelope he had in his outstretched hand to you. “It’s what I do.” 

“Well, your plane leaves in two hours, so get going.” 

“Plane?” 

Tearing the envelope in a fevered craze, James continued.   “Yup, you’re going home.” 

You pulled out two slips. One that gave the information on how to find the Dedsec group in San Francisco, another was a plane ticket to San Francisco. 

“Shut the fuck up.” you whispered to yourself as you stared at the destination, SFO. He was at home. You were one step closer to finding him. 

“Hope you find him.” James says as he leaves you to finish gathering your things. “I also wired you some money to help you set up a place to stay while you’re there.” 

“Thanks!” you shout over your shoulder as you shove all your things into your backpack not caring if they broke or not.  This was it, you were finally going to find him. After everything, you just wanted to know that he was alive, it didn’t matter if he wouldn’t want you in his life. You just wanted to make sure that he was alive and doing well, and not dead because of your mistake. 

Without any further hesitation, you headed outside into the Seattle rain, and hailed a cab. You could buy new clothes once you got to San Francisco. Right now you had a lead to chase. 


	2. HOME

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who read and kudos, you guys have no idea how much that means to me. I initially was not going to write this story because I thought that no one would read it. So thanks for proving me wrong.  
> You can always bug me here and at sketchbookthingz.tumblr.com
> 
> Also safe to say that the story will VERY LOOSELY follow the game story. I will be taking liberty to make things fit my stories narrative better.
> 
> \--------------

As the plane touched down, you smiled. Home. You were home. So was he. This was your chance, you needed to find him and quick. Getting out and into the lobby, you quickly maneuvered your way to the BART connection. You laughed at yourself slightly, you never understood why the airport, despite being name SFO, was in South San Francisco, instead of San Francisco, two cities away from San Francisco. Logistically it made sense to be there, but you shook your head to get those thoughts out. There was a directive here that you needed to focus on.

Waiting for the train to pull up you skimmed through all your apps. “Shit!” You quickly tried to hide your outburst by sinking into a corner with less people around. The account that Dedsec had set up for you had twenty thousand in it, and you made a mental note to thank James as soon as you got settled somewhere. Once on the train you began to think where to rent a place out. The mission? Nah, it had to be overrun by hipsters now. The tenderloin? No, not after last time. No, you needed somewhere you could make a quick getaway. Somewhere you could have an exit plan in either direction and not be boxed in just in case.

 _Great,_ you thought to yourself, _I’ve only been here 30 minutes and I’m already planning my way out. But things always go wrong, plan now._ Scolding yourself, you got off at Balboa station, you knew where you were going to be calling home now. Getting out of the station and up above ground you were greeted with the morning rush of students of all ages rushing to City College across the street, trying to get to class on time. Smiling you crossed the street to a bus stop, good old MUNI, somethings never changed. Looking at the map on one of the bus stops walls, you confirmed that you hadn’t forgotten about how to travel in your home town. “Next bus in two minutes.” A voice startled you. You looked up to see that the once simple bus stops that you were used to, now too were becoming electronic. On the inside of the bust shelter, a TV  ran commercials and bus times, a CTOS symbol displayed gleaming and shining on the bottom left corner. Scoffing you stepped outside of view from the tv screen as you waited for the bus to arrive. _You can never be too careful._

On the bus ride you skimmed through real estate websites and found a small house for rent in the Seacliff area. The perfect place, you were sandwiched in between the Presidio, Lands Ends, China Beach and the Avenues. You could easily run or hide in either of the four if things went south, it was the perfect location. Thankfully, the landlord was willing to meet in an hour and half to show you the place.

Two hours later, you had convinced the landlord to let you move in for twice the price of rent, which took up two thirds of your money, leaving you with enough to buy some food and new clothes. After eating and settling into you new place, _aka setting up security cameras and safety measures_ , you were thankful that the place came furnished and crashed on the couch. Drinking the last two bottles of beer, you felt the warmth of sunshine on your face and realized that the day was almost over. Making a mental note to buy some curtains, you decided to climb up onto the roof.

Sitting on the top of your new home, you could see the beach ahead of you, trees surrounding you to the left and right, and the bustle of city living behind you. Tilting a bit to the left, you watched the sun sink into the horizon, after that was done, you turned around and watched the lights in the city begin to illuminate in the distance. Chugging the last of the contents of your alcohol, you greeted your city. “Hello San Francisco, I’m home.”  Now to find this San Francisco chapter of DedSec, and see how they could help you find him.

The first part wasn't so hard. As you got out of the shower, a news report broke though a random television show you were watching, you were about to change the channel when you heard that the car had no driver. Curious you watched the report. A car had been painted and was being driven through the streets of San Francisco, 

"We're getting reports of the Cyberdriver car performing spectacular stunts around town. The one of a kind car is drawing out quite a crowd." You laughed as you watched the news report.   "Wait, what's that, we're seeing a logo on the car, it reads Dedsec." 

"They're not subtle here are they?" As you turned the television off and went to bed you couldn't help but think how a group of hackers who were too busy to play with a movie car, would be able to help you. But then you laughed, what was the good of being a hacker, if you couldn't have any fun with it, right? Plus, they were your last hope.


	3. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

James had only given you a slip of paper that said _Dolores Park. Marcus Holloway._ On the back was a picture of Marcus. So here you sat in Dolores Park, scoping out the game shop you watched Marcus walk into an hour before. _Could that really be it?_ Could this Dedsec’s chapter be located in a tabletop gaming store?  Sipping your overpriced cup of coffee, you began to mentally list all the options you had.

You could just stroll in there and introduce yourself, or you could just sit here and watch them all come in go and familiarize yourself with their habits. But it was beautiful out.

_“Are we really going to sit here all day?” he asked you as he wrapped his arms around you tighter, forcing you back closer to his chest so your head rested on his right shoulder_

_“Why not?” you asked with a slight laugh as you turned around and nuzzled your nose against his. “We’re skipping class to be outside. In the sun.” He gave you an unsure smile in return, and you knew his anxiety was beginning to creep up. Anger boiled in you,all directed towards his father for making him this way. The drill sergeant. Everything his son did was wrong to him. The way he dressed, the way he talked, the friends he had. It made him develop anxiety and he didn't have many friends because of that. You grew up watching first hand what this drill sergeants idea of making his son do what he wanted was, and you wanted to hurt him._

_“Don’t do that.” he said softly, kissing your forehead. He knew you all too well._

_“I just-.” He cut you off by kissing you._

_“Come on, let's go watch Singing in the Rain at the Castro.” Slowly he gets up and helps you up._

_“Are you just dropping me off there?” You asked, knowing that social gatherings, especially ones like a public sing along, caused his anxiety to skyrocket._

_“No,” he chuckled as you dusted grass off of you and he began to fidget on his phone again, him and that phone. He called it hacking, you called it waste of time. But those message boards and coding gave him an escape he needed from his home life. So you supported it.  “There’s a sing a long that starts in an hour, if we walk now, we can make it on time.”_

_Your eyebrows instantly betrayed you as they went up in a questioning glance._

_He shrugs and kisses your cheek. “Maybe your influence is finally getting through to me.”_

_“As long as you don’t get as self destructive like me.” You shine a big smile at him._

_His hands caress your face, “You’re not self destructive, you just like looking for adventure a lot. Sometimes in places that you shouldn’t. Sometimes, I don’t know why you chose me.”_

_You pull him against you and kiss him hard. “Because why wouldn’t I?”_

_“Because,” the insecurities winning, he stared at his feet as he answered. “I just hold you back.”_

BUZZ. Your phone snapped you out of the memory and your coffee splashed on your lap. “Fuck.” you muttered. This was going to be harder than you thought. You thought maybe being home would help, but this was hard. Fishing your phone out of your jacket a simple message flashed on the home screen. **_Are you going to come in or just watch us from afar?_ **

Turning back to the game shop, you saw Marcus standing at one of the windows. Smile on his face, waving his hand like a long lost friend. Had James told him how dangerous you were, or the work you did for the Seattle chapter? Marcus either really liked your work, or he has no idea the extent of your work. Taking a deep breath in, you stood up, let it out and walked across the street. “Hey!” Marcus said as he met you at the front door. “Come in.” He led you back through the store, past people sitting at tables discussing their latest D&D campaigns.

“James mentioned you might be coming by. Team is down here.” He led you towards a back hallway with no exit, and automatically you began to curl your fist in a fight or flight stance in case this wasn’t a friendly situation. Marcus raised his hands, and you grounded your stance, until his fingers reached up to keypad on the wall that you didn’t see and punched in some numbers. A wall opened and he signaled for you to follow him. You didn’t know if maybe this was a trap or not but the voice in your head told you, you had no choice. You had to follow this rabbit down the hole in order to get to him. So taking a deep breathe and preparing yourself for whatever awaited in this basement, you followed Marcus.

 


	4. The Rabbit Hole

Five minutes into explaining what you do and what you have done, the masked man known as Wrench began to smash things. “She can’t stay here!”

“Wrench!” Marcus and Sitara exclaimed. Josh took a step back and Horatio stood next to Marcus. Automatically you assumed that Marcus was the leader here, or at least the most charismatic one. Despite the fact that he was wearing crocs. “She could slit our throats in our sleep!” You couldn’t help but laugh. “See psychotic behavior already.” 

“No, not psychotic behavior.” You took a step towards him with your arms crossed. “I just can’t take a, what I hope is a grown man in a mask, with meme’s stitched to his jacket, seriously.” 

Another whirlwind of obscenities and smashing things was done by the masked man, before things finally died down and Marcus spoke up.  “So you get tortured on purpose?” It turned out that James had not been one hundred percent forthcoming about what you did for their DedSec chapter, so after introductions were made, you had to explain it.  

“Technically,,” you said. “I go undercover to get information. If it means taking a few beatings and delivering some, then yes, it’s what I do. Sometimes I,” you chose your next word very carefully. “ _ Neutralize _ any threats. If you want that is.”  

“Damn, you on that  _ Alias  _ status type shit aren’t you?” Marcus laughed. Sitara let slight chuckle out, and Josh just kept his distance.  

“Something like that. James said that I could find work with you guys, a quid pro quo thing.I worked with the Seattle Dedsec for a while, they ran into a couple of problems, I helped them with theirs, they helped me with mine.” 

“Well, we don’t have anything hard core like Chicago, we mostly make a name for ourselves here.” 

“I saw.” You say with a smile. “The Cyberdriver car stunt. That was great.” 

“Yeah it was!” Sitara laughed which caused everyone to whoop. 

“Did you see those fireworks? That was yours truly.” Wrench decided to say taking a step closer to you again, becoming part of the conversation again. 

“Yeah, it was great.” His mask then showed ^_^. “Oh no,” Horatio said as he took a step back. Wrench began to go on some tangent about the Cyberdriver car, and the idiots at the space company, when Marcus interrupted. “Anyway, you said quid pro quo thing. What's that quo?” 

_ Finally.  _ “I’m looking for someone.” 

Again Wrench spoke up. “Looking for someone, or,” he put his right hand up to his head as a gun. “Looking for someone.” 

“The first.” you responded as you took your phone out and handed it to Marcus, “There’s someone I’ve been trying to find for a long time, an old friend. I don’t have an updated picture, just some random numbers he left on a phone some years ago. It’s a phone number. There’s been no activity on it for eight years now, but it just turned on a month ago. Here. In San francisco.” 

“Easy, we’ll just-” Josh started but Wrench cut him off. 

“Why should we help you? For all we know you’re here to neutralize one of us.” Wrench spoke again. 

“If I was, I would have done it by now.” You say rolling your eyes. 

“You don’t even know who were are.” Sitara spoke up. 

Shrugging your shoulders, you pointed at the workbench behind them. “But someone finds her important.” Everyone turned around and looked at the workbench and saw a picture of a brown haired woman in a yellow top. “And seeing as there is a giant sign there that says ‘Wrench Bench’ I take that this woman is important to Wrench. It’s easy to find her with social media, and then use her as leverage against you.” You pointed at Horatio, “You’re too clean cut for this hacker underground life. Good  shoes, posture, clean clothes and hair. I have to naturally assume that not only do you know how to code, but you made a career out of it here in the Bay Area. How long do you think I have to sift through Nudle Employee database until I find your position at that company, or one of its subsidiaries?” 

“Wow.” Sitara simply said. 

“Like I said, it’s what I do. I wouldn’t have waltzed in here with Marcus, if I wasn’t being honest. I need help, and James said that I could help you back in return.I’ll stay out of this place until you guys actually want me here. I have things to do around town anyway.”

“And what is that?” Wrench said as he took down the photo from his workbench.

With a smirk on your face, “It’s not going after your little girlfriend, I’m working leads of my own. Going to the old neighborhood we used to live in, things like that.” 

“So you knew this person really close, and you both used to live here?” Horatio asked, you simply nodded yes in return. 

“What makes you think, that if that phone number is being used, that it’s them?” Marcus asked. 

You had been asking yourself that same questions since you found out the numbers were a phone number. “Because,” you said softly now, admitting it out loud. “It’s my only hope.” 

“It’s your Obi Wan?” Wrench asked.

With some irritation in your voice, you asked with a laugh in your voice. “Can you guys speak in anything besides pop culture references, or is  San Francisco finally perfected mind control through the water supply?” 

Everyone stopped for a moment and looked at each other. “Can they do that?” Josh asked. They started at you, and stared back with raised eyebrows, waiting for them to call your bluff. 

“Nah,” Marcus came over and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “She’s just messing with us.” 

“Well, we have nothing for you to do right now.” Horatio said, but then a smile on Marcus’s face lite up. “Actually, I think I do.” 


	5. Haum Sweet Haum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for the support, you have no idea what it means to me!   
> <3 Sketchbookthingz
> 
> always bother me at sketchbookthingz.tumblr.com

Getting into the back of the WKZ van, Marcus drove as Wrench sat in the passenger side, and you listened to the crew talk about stingrays and dolphins. Shaking your head you couldn’t help but let a small laugh out just thinking about the situation you found yourself in. Marcus had convinced you to help the team hack into Haum, after Wrench had explained to Marcus what was going on with new shipments and the Haum CEO called out Dedsec. You reluctantly agreed, having nothing else to do at the moment, and you wanted to watch them in action. What was this Dedsec group all about? 

As Marcus took some precarious turns to get up to Sutro tower, you made sure the robot, now dubbed as Wrench Jr, didn’t fall over, but weren’t regretting helping them with this one bit. Once at the top of the mountain, Marcus parked near the base of the tower. Waiting for both of them to get out, you checked your phone. No missed calls. No message waiting to be opened. Why did you always check, if you knew that there was nothing you missed? Standing outside, Wrench stretched as he gave some bullshit answer about being allergic to shitty uniforms, Marcus gave you smirk, nodding  towards you, and you responded “I’m always down to take on some shitty uniformed guards.”

“Great, here’s the plan. I’ll come from the other side, you come up the main road. When you distract them, I’ll get in the mainframe, and shut it down. When the lights turn off, that’s your cue that I’m in. Then we’ll meet under the tower.” Nodding you digested the information and stare up the road to the guard checkpoint was at the gate. “Any questions?” 

“Three.” You simply said as you took your hair down from your ponytail and began to mess with your shirt to make it a lower swoop, barey on the verge of showing the top of your breast. “One, how many are in there. Two,” you checked your pocket for your knife. “Do you want me to just knock them out or  _ knock them out. _ Three. Is the one in the check point straight?” 

Marcus let out a laugh, “What are you two talking about over there!” Wrench said as he walked over towards you, but Marcus just threw up his copter into the air and began to use Hacknet to get the information you requested. “One, six. Two. The first one, only do the second if absolutely necessary. Three. Yes.” 

“Alright.” you said, as you stood up. “Let's do this.”

Distracting the first guard and taking him down in the checkpoint booth was easy enough. Once inside you just had to create a distraction window for Marcus. As you surveyed the layout you couldn’t help but smile, a crate lifter. Fishing your phone of your pocket, you decided to use the tool that James had given you. He explained that everything electronic carried a wave that easily be hacked for short periods of time, you had never used it before, but now seemed like a good time as any. Opening the app, you located the signal for the lifter and began to make it move around getting the attention of the guards. As you took them down, the lights turned off. Marcus was in. 

Riding the elevator up with Marcus, you felt your hands shake. Adrenaline was rushing through you. It had been a long time since something like this had come your way, and you forgot how good it felt. Once at the top Marcus had to hack the network in order for them to ride on WKZ signals. You stood by and watched him work as you listened to him argue with Wrench about animals. “Don’t make me the guy who kicks a puppy Marcus!” You half listened to the argument, too busy taking in the scene of San Francisco from this vantage point. It had been so long since you were home, that it began to spur emotions in you. Nostalgia. Wistfulness. Loneliness. You don’t know what it was, that made you tear up, until you heard the sound of metal clanging.

Looking up you saw that Marcus had hacked the network and was now riding on WKZ signal back to its source, and Sitara announced that she was on her way with Josh. Not wanting to stare out over the city any longer, you made an excuse to leave Marcus at the top. “I’m going to go sweep and make sure no more guards showed up.” Taking one last sweep of the perimeter you heard Sitara as she saw the unconscious guards on the floor, and looked at you. “Damn, you don’t mess around do you.” 

“Can’t take all the credit,” you replied as you followed them up to the elevator. “Marcus is a force to be reckoned with himself.” Loading into the elevator you saw one missing from the group. “Where’s Horatio?” you asked as the elevator began to move up.  

Josh was about to answer when Wrench threw his body against Josh’s and looked at you, you assumed was eye to eye with that mask. “Why, are you going to hunt him down?” With a raised eyebrow, amused, you said. “It was just curiosity. Thought you all worked as a unit thing. You know, where one goes, all goes.” Sitara let a laugh out, Josh began to talk anyway through Wrench. “He’s at work. He works a Nudle.” 

“Josh!” Wrench exclaimed as shoved the man, but the doors opened and the team joined Marcus. Sitara sat on one of the bars and brought up a tablet that showed the live stream of the interview going on. Wrench began to distribute beers and you took one gladly. As the CEO spoke a Dedsec logo came up and a video you didn’t know was made followed shortly after. It explained to everyone watching, the same thing that Marcus has explained to you days before when you agreed to help them. 

Everyone cheered. “See this is what we’re about!” Marcus said happily. 

Maybe you were going to like it here after all. 


	6. The Strip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I repeat myself too much, but I have to tell you all how much I appreciate it when you read my story. Kudos' it, bookmark it, and even take the time to comment on it, or even send me messages about it on tumblr! You have no idea what it means to me. I hope you enjoy where my story goes. 
> 
> <3 SBT

“Table six wants their drinks now!” you said over the music as you leaned over the bar. “You want me to come back there and help you?” 

“And lose my job?” the bartender replied, as he rushed to make the drinks. “No,fucking way. Give me two minutes.” 

“Whatever you say Mike.” Smiling, you turned around and watched the scene before you. The music boomed and made your adrenaline rush, as men and some women paid to have the girls on stage dance for them. Some men were being escorted out by security, others seemed to be rushing to the ATM’s for more cash. It had been three weeks since the completion of the embarrassing of the Haum CEO on television, you got a job at the strip club on Broadway close to the waterfront. You had cased all the strip clubs, not for the pay or the way they treated their workers, but for their patrons. Finally you scored what you were looking for. A popular nightclub that not only catered to high cliente privately,mostly politicians, but it was also frequented by gangs of the bay area. It was a hub of information, there was nothing held back once you started bringing drinks to some of them. 

You had not heard anything from Dedsec or any of it’s members. Still no news on that number they were helping you track. But you were never one to sit and wait around for work. You had already heard of many things happening under the gang's rules. Some human trafficking, some drug trafficking, some breaking and entering. You had some work cut out for you. 

“Here you are.” Mike cut you out from your surveillance. 

“Thanks Mike,” you winked as you picked up your tray. “You’re the best.” With that you swayed your hip as you delivered the drinks and came back to the bar to pick up another order. The crowd wasn’t as busy as it was the previous night's, most of the VIP rooms were full and you were left catering to the staggering night crowd. After delivering the next order, Mike had a beer on a tray waiting. “Hey Cherry!” the bartender yelled over the booming PA who was announcing the next girl on stage. “This is for that gentlemen at the end of the bar. Paid extra for you to specifically deliver it to him.” 

Looking to the end of the bar, you saw none other than Marcus with a wide grin waving at you. “Want me to have Terell take him out back?” 

“No,” you chuckled as you took the tray. “I got this.”  

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Marcus laughed as you came to serve him and eyed your lack of clothing. Part of you was hoping he had news about the phone number, but they could have called you for that. 

“I don’t know, what do we have?” you said as you handed him his beer and sat on the stool next to him. “Because you, here,talking to me, kinda ruining my image.” 

Marcus let a laugh out as he drank from his beer. “That’s rich,  _ Cherry _ .” 

“It’s better than using my real name,” you said as you signaled Mike to bring you a beer too. It wasn’t unusual for the waitress to sometimes sit and chat customers up. Waitress weren’t allowed to dance or solicit for tips, but she was able to sit and chat with a  customer if it meant them spending more money. As Mike left the bottle in front of you, you lowered your voice so only Marcus could hear you. “No leads?” 

He shook his head as he drank more of his beer. “Sorry no, not yet. I’ve actually come to ask for your help.” You nodded your head as you took a sip from your beer. 

“Well I don’t know I do have this job now, so.” You both looked at each other for a beat before laughing. “So tell me what are we doing?” 

“Not what, who!”

Your eyebrows knitted together as his eyes lit up and he said two words, or rather a name, “Jimmy Siska.” 


	7. Blasphemer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for taking so long on this chapter!  
> please let me know what you did or didn't like about this!  
> <3 Sketchbookthingz

“Remind me again why I’m doing this?” You asked as you looked at yourself in a mirror at the garage. No one answered. Looking up, you saw them standing there staring at you, open mouthed. “What?” You asked as you looked down. The uniform was on right, and the clothes you were wearing were now on the floor. When Marcus explained the plan of you going in as a security guard since no one had seen your face before, it made sense at the time. When you arrived at the garage Sitara had handed you the uniform and you promptly went into the corner, undressed to put the guard uniform on. By the way they stared at you, you realized that they were not expecting to see more of you then they wanted. “Sorry, force of habit,” you said as you picked up your clothes and began to fold them. “I’m used to getting dressed and undressed in front of others, forgot that you were there.” 

Everyone snapped out of it as Marcus clapped his hand and continued on rambling about the plan to everyone, which you were grateful for. Dispersing, everyone went on and about their usual as you climbed into the car that Marcus had waiting. After a drive out to the west of Twin Peak, he parked as close as he could to the temple before parking behind some bushes and going through it all again. “Your credentials work out because we put them in the system, but if someone looks hard enough it’ll send flags up. So we have to make this quick. Just create a hole for me to get in, no diversions this time, this place is locked tight. Then I’ll do the rest.” 

“That’s it?” you asked as you straightened out Umeni hat. Nodding at yourself in the rear view mirror, you put your hand on the door handle. 

“Oh one last thing ,here.” Marcus handed you a pair of wireless in ear headphones and a phone. “They’re connected, and linked to our channel, whatever we all say you hear. This is how we communicate.” you simply nodded as you put the phone in your pocket and put the headphones on. 

“Are you guys there yet?” you heard Josh's voice in your ear. 

“Wow, you guys listen to each other twenty four seven?” You asked getting out of the car. 

There was some debate about it back and forth then Marcus made them all concentrate again. You smiled, like a father with his children, he reeled them all back in again. Finally, you guys parted, he went the opposite direction of you, and taking one last breathe in you nodded to yourself and began to walk towards the gate. Conscious of every move you made you remembered the guards you took down at Sutro; shoulders back, head high, on alert. “Patching in,” you heard Josh’s voice. Then static and more unfamiliar voices joined this time. 

“Perimeter check.” Three voices rang, and then you decided this was as good as any to join. “Hey this is Stacy, I just called in to help with the perimeter check.” Vulgarities ensued as guards began to question it, when the guard you assumed in charge spoke up. “Shit, she’s on the list. Stacy check in with me in the room to the west.” 

“Yes, sir.” you replied into your mic. “Showtime.” you whispered to yourself as you walked past the gate and headed to the room you were directed to. There the guard was still looking into your credentials looking at you and back at the computer over and over again. “I just got a message from the director about a credible threat being made by those dirt bags hackers.” It took everything in you to keep from smirking. “Yes, sir,” you replied. “Director said to do anything and everything necessary to keep that threat just that, barks from puppies.” 

He laughed.”Sounds like him, you can guard the front door with Bill. Dismissed.” Nodding your head, you exited and headed towards the front door to the building. Letting a sigh of relieve out, you walked towards the front door when Sitara’s voice came in. “Puppies?” There was some more arguing and you tried to ignore it as the guard at the front door greeted you nonchalantly and rather not caring about you. “You take that side.” he simply said as his chin tilted towards the left of him. When he was out of earshot in a low voice you said into your mic. “Give me an opening guys.” 

“I got you,” Marcus said. The door to the temple opened. “What the hell?” the guard said as he headed towards it. “Did you touch this?” Putting your hands up in the air in front of you chest you shook your head no. “The fuck.” he said, as soon as he got to the doorway you took one more quick look around to make sure that no one was watching, you striked. Quickly you wrapped your right arm around his neck, keeping him from screaming, as you kicked the back of his knees. He crumpled in front of you into the temple, with your arm still locked around his neck. Your left reached for your taser in you pocket, and with a flash, as your arm let go of his neck, you fired the taser, rendering him unconscious. Waiting two seconds to make sure that you wouldn’t be affected by the current that passed through him, you dragged him by his boots and rolled him under a pew. 

“Damn,” Marcus said you looked up to see him closing the door behind him. 

You smirked. “Just do what you need to do, and do it quick before they realize he’s missing.” Marcus began to click away on his phone when you realized where he was walking. Pulling him more harshly than you realized, he looked at you with questioning angry eyes. “Stay low.” You whispered at him, pointing to the doors to the left and right to both you. The doors were closed but they had windows on them. Marcus nodded as he crouched down and began to hack the elevator and  you kept walking around the doors pretending to be the guard on duty so as not to alert the other guards. Within a couple of minutes Marcus had hacked the elevator and was on his way down. About two minutes after, chaos began to ensue. The guards began to yell in their comms about a break in, an alarm in the basement had been tripped, that's when the elevator began to hum again. Guards were beginning to realize what was going on when the guard you knocked out didn’t answer. “Shit,” you muttered as you began to think about every exit that you has seen on your way in. Marcus then showed up, you grabbed his elbow and shoved him to the door with no guards.  

“Marcus you need to leave now!” You hissed as you practically shoved him out the door. Guards were beginning to head towards your location. “You need to go.” Making sure that he was out the door, you closed it and locked it. Marcus wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to wait for you. He had the most important thing that you had come for on his phone and the people needed to know. “How are you going to get out?” Wrenchs’ voice filled your ears.

Hastily, you opened the door on the opposite direction that Marcus left, lifting the gun in your hand, you answered. “You guys do what you do best, I’ll do what I do best.” Your gun rang out two shots out into a tree. “Here!” you yelled out as loud as you could. “The perp is here! We have an officer down!”  Taking the headphones off, you stuffed them in your pocket and turned the phone off, just as the guards began to converge at your location. “He went that way.” you said as you pointed your gun back out the door in front of you. “I’ll stay with him,” you motioned your head towards the unconscious guard. The other just nodded as you crouched down trying to rouse the guard awake. “We’re in pursuit, south side of the building.” One guards radioed as they ran out. Once you were sure that they left, you ran out the same door that Marcus left through. As you reached the gates of the driveway you dumped the hat , belt and Umeni shirt in a bush as you ran across the street. You didn’t stop running until you reached the bottom of the hill, and Rhonda’s Restaurant was in your view. The tank top you had worn under the guard shirt, pants and boots where the only thing on your body and you decided to blend with the crowd at Rhonda’s as you let your hair out of your ponytail and stole a jacket that was left carelessly outside. 

Inside you sat at the bar and began to drink a couple of beers and waited until the coast was clear to make your way back home. As you drank your beers you couldn't help but smile to yourself, the adrenaline rush reminding you that you were still alive, and that you loved this. 


	8. Burger Joint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the feedback, kudos and for just reading my story overall. It makes me happy that you not only take the time to read and kudos this story but even take a moment out of your time to comment. I hope you enjoy where this story goes. 
> 
> <3 SBT

Laughing, you walked away from the club, parting ways with the girls who thought that they knew you and you were friends with. You were blending a lot more than you thought you’d let yourself. It had been a while since you heard from your DedSec friends, and you decided to chase leads of your own. Having become friendly with the girls who the Aztecs, the 580’s and the Sons of Ragnarok frequented, information flowed to you. All the girls were a rotating shifts from club to club, they never called one home. Went were needed, and they had gossip aplenty for you about what the members would say in their drunken stupors.  The only ones you couldn’t get to was Prime 8, Lenni kept them up mostly in the Castro, but recently they were beginning to hang in Sons of Ragnarok territory that slightly frightened you.

You fed the intel you could gather to the Dedsec team and they continued to promise that they were working on your lead. Sometimes it angered you that you just waited, a dead fish in water, just waiting. But they also entertained you very much, recently they had gained more followers, for leaking Ubisoft’s latest game trailer. The internet was ablaze, everyone wanted to be a part of DedSec and the app was being downloaded like it was going out of style. 

As you walked to your car, you saw someone waiting by your car. Calmly, in your jacket pocket you put your keys in your fist, points sticking out of the spaces in between your knuckles. You began to slow your path to your car and a few feet away, whistled out for the person to turn around only to see a familiar face. Loosening the grip on your keys, you let out a sigh of relief and walked to your car unlocking the doors with the electronic fob. “What are you doing here?” 

You opened the trunk and shoved your things in there. “Well, as the one who usually tells the team where to go, I wanted to check out where your intel was coming from,” Horatio said with a smile. 

“Well,” you said as you stood with your back against the driver side door, and arms crossed against your chest. Ignoring the chill that began to pick up, and your lack of proper clothing, you sized up Horatio as he did you. After a beat, he just nodded and you laughed. “Want to grab something eat? I just got off and was on my way to get something to eat.”

Cocking an eyebrow at him as you opened the doors, “You were going to grab something to eat, on Broadway? The strip club food isn’t that good ‘Ratio.” 

He smiled at the shortened form of his name as he sat in the passenger seat. “I didn’t say that it was going to be here. Just that I was on my way to eat something when I decided to check on your resources.” 

Laughing you started up the car. “Well, you checked them, so do you want me to drop you off somewhere, or do you want to join me for dinner?” 

“Depends.” When you reached a red light, you looked at him from the corner of your eye with a questioning glance. He answered you before you could ask. “Do you want to have dinner with me, or do you just want to dump me off somewhere?” 

As the light turned green you couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure, but I chose the place.” 

Horatio nodded, “Sounds fair.” 

You drove onto Valencia and parked in front of Burger Joint, he let out a laugh. “Yes! A good burger. Everyone else always wants pizza.”  

As Horatio and you had dinner, you laughed and talked about recent missions that Dedsec was running, while giving him information that could help them along. A voice in your head telling you to not get attached to the man sitting in front of you, or any of them.But you couldn’t help but smile at the fact that you belonged and fit in somewhere after such a long time. 

Unbeknownst to Horatio and you, someone was watching you from across the street. Watching the way you smiled, and laughed and insisted to Horatio that you pay the bill and the subtle blush that settled on your cheeks when your hands touched as you both reached for the check.  


End file.
